Leeds United manager, Daniel Farke, was none too happy after his side failed to capitalise on Leicester City’s surprising loss to Millwall.
With the Foxes having slipped up, a win on Tuesday would’ve seen the all whites go to the top of the table again, but a 0-0 draw meant that they moved into second on goal difference from Ipswich Town, though the Portman Road based side have a game in hand.
With five games left to play for Leeds there’s still 15 points up for grabs, and Farke will surely be looking for his team not to drop any more if he wants to become one of the two teams that will go up to the Premier League automatically.
Daniel Farke has blamed the English ref for Leeds’ draw at Sunderland
Against the Black Cats, it seems that the German believes that the English officials were against Leeds. At least that’s the impression he gave in his post-match press conference.
“We were pretty unfortunate with some decisions, clear handball in the first half should have been a penalty, clear handball in the second half should have been a penalty,” he said (h/t Wakefield Express).
“The added time, it felt a bit harsh after substitutions, lots of time wasting and discussions. I don’t know if we would have scored a goal, but I know we were pretty unlucky with some decisions on the pitch.
“In general I’m never asking for red cards but come on act a bit earlier with yellow cards or you send the message you can keep going.
“If there is a rule how there should be a handball, I ask just for the rules. When you lean into the ball with the elbow and you have a clear view as a referee, sorry you have to give it.
“The second half it was obvious, it was not difficult to see.
“We’ve had six letters this year saying ‘sorry it was a penalty or red card’, we’ll likely get two more letters now. Two penalties and I’m sure we would have used one to win this game.”
It isn’t clear at this point whether Farke will land himself in trouble for his comments and, frankly, to be diverting the attention away from another poor performance isn’t the best tactic.
The German should be looking much closer to home and perhaps geeing up a few of his players that perhaps don’t truly understand what’s at stake.
Giving 100 percent at any time is a pre-requisite for a footballer, let alone when your side is in the midst of a full-on promotion race.
Of course, there’s still time for everyone to be pulling in the right direction and earning those extra points to get them over the line at the expense of either Leicester or Ipswich.
The fact remains that one of the three that are locked in at the top of the table will have to negotiate the lottery of the play-offs if they want to return to the promised land.
Shocking performance and why wait for the 80th minute to bring subs on.
Got no chance of going up automatically once you start to lose and draw its a slippery slope.
Deserved nothing g from the game and made Sunderland look pretty decent.
Is your middle name ‘Negative’?
True fans know the game and that can’t win them all yeah we should of won but it’s football still 12points to play for get behind your team at all times not just when it’s good